Blood Is Thicker Than Water
by DarkAngelLillith
Summary: AU Tsunade gets tired of all the orphans running around after the Kazekage decides to dump two more with her. Poor Kurenai never saw it coming.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning of It All

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**AN: **English is not my first language and characters will most probably be Ooc since this is an AU. This is also my first fanfic.

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of It All**

It had been one of the most beautiful days in the history of Konhagakure. The sun shone, the birds sang and the ANBU were celebrating the record of seven hours without an FGI. (For those who are wondering what an FGI means, it is only the code for any Fangirl Incident and it is divided by different classes depending on the situation.) The people of Konoha seemed to have forgotten that the last time the fangirls were quiet Uchiha Itachi killed almost the entire Uchiha Clan. In this nicest of days, there was a reunion taking place inside the Hokage Tower.

Tsunade read the scroll twice looking for any mistake, but there didn't seem to be any. She took a moment to look at the two Genins in front of her.

"Don't you have anything to say about this?" - She asked them while watching their reactions carefully.

"What is there to say?" - The blonde girl, Temari, answered. Her words carefully studied and memorized- "The Kazekage believes this will strengthen the alliance between Suna and Konoha."

Tsunade nodded absentmindedly. Her mind went back to the attack during the Chuunin Exams. Suna's actions had been critical to Konoha. Thanks to them, Konoha had been prepared for most of Orochimaru's attacks. Unfortunately, they could not stop him from placing the cursed seal on Sasuke and the Sandaime had died trying to stop the snake sannin from running away. Suna didn't need to strengthen alliances. Suna only wanted to get rid of these two. As if she needed more children running around unsupervised.

The two Sand ninjas looked at the Hokage awaiting their new orders. Temari glanced at her partner. The redheaded boy was sitting still and the girl sighed softly. At least their father had taken down his orders of killing Gaara. She still could not believe the man had just told them that Gaara was now Konoha's problem and they should deal with the monster as they pleased. She had felt disgusted with him and Kankuro. Her oldest brother's hatred towards Gaara quite obvious to her. She remembered looking at her father and brother and saying that wherever Gaara went she would follow. Now they were stuck in this office waiting for the woman in front of them to tell them something.

The Hokage sighed. She felt a headache coming up. She rubbed her temples and said. - "Could you wait here for a moment? I'll be back soon."

The woman got up and left without waiting for their answer. As soon as she was out the door, she encountered her friend. She smiled tiredly at her.

"Shizune, what am I supposed to do? - She complained. - "two more brats running around and one of them carrying a demon inside. As if we didn't had enough with Naruto and Sasuke."

The black haired girl looked at her old time friend and smiled. - "You are Hokage now. You can always assign someone to take care of them."

Tsunade thought about it for a moment. - "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. However, who can we use for this? It isn't as if a volunteer will walk through the stairs and present itself, you know."

Her words had just ended when footsteps coming up the stairs alerted the women of the upcoming person. The two could only watch as one Yuhi Kurenai sauntered over to them.

"Yuhi Kurenai with the report of the Missing-nin in the land of Waves Mission." - The red-eyed Jounin handed her report to Tsunade, who took it and quickly scanned through it.

"It seemed like no one in your team got seriously injured. That's good." - Commented the Hokage. The Jounin just smiled and bowed before leaving.

As soon as the woman left them alone, Tsunade and Shizune looked at each other with mischievous smiles on their faces. Without uttering a word, the blonde woman turned around and walked back into her office.

Tsunade looked at Konoha's newest addition from Suna and gave them her sweetest smile. Gaara had to stop himself from shivering when he saw it - "Why don't you two kids go down to the first floor? The guest rooms there are one of the best in the village."

The two Genins turned to leave, Gaara silently trailing after his sister, when the Hokage stopped them. - "I will be expecting you in this office tomorrow morning."

Temari just looked at her and nodded before leaving. The Hokage only had to wait two minutes before Shizune entered.

Her apprentice carried the blank mission scrolls in her hands. It took both women the rest of the day to come up with their new mission. During all this time, Tsunade never tried to fall asleep or drink. Once their job was done, Shizune got drunk in the celebration. Once both women were asleep, a fight broke out in the garden of the Uchiha mansion. The ANBU were called to deal with an FGI class 3 (Fangirl Incident class 3 are the ones were the girls begin fighting for who is going to peep on the Uchiha's bathroom. It usually involves trying to sedate a murderous Uchiha.). It had been more than 12 hours without an incident, but now the world was back to normal again.


	2. Chapter 2: The Victims

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**AN: **English is not my first language and characters will most probably be Ooc since this is an AU. This is also my first fanfic.

"speaking"

'thinking'

**Chapter2: The Victims**

Morning at the Hokage Tower received the former Sand siblings with a generous breakfast and the company of Tsunade.

"Why are we having breakfast in the Hokage's office?" - Asked a confused Temari and received a smirk from the woman.

"Why be a Hokage if you can't abuse your power a little?" - Was the reply she received. Tsunade's smile became wider before taking a bite of food and swallowing before continuing. - "Besides, we have to wait until the others arrive. I need to brief everyone on their mission and I prefer to explain everything once."

Temari blinked. - "We have a mission already?"

"Yes. Now eat and I'll explain everything when everyone arrives." - Replied the woman, her tone saying that the conversation was over.

Meanwhile, five very angry ANBU were looking for the people their new Hokage was awaiting. Their reasons to be angry? They were supposed to be doing dangerous missions, not playing messenger for the blonde woman or breaking up little fangirl fights. They completely ignored the fact that those little fangirl fights were the cause of most of the ANBU casualties or injuries. Thinking about the prospect of becoming missing-nins, the five split up to find their targets faster.

_Naruto's Apartment:_

He was falling asleep. The blond boy's head resting on the counter and his eyes closing slowly as he waited for the three minutes until he could taste his morning ramen. He really hated to wait. Especially in the morning. While other ninja needed coffee to wake up, Naruto only needed his morning ramen to start the day.

'Stupid Orochimaru. I should've been Chuunin by now, but he had to go and attack the village. Why couldn't he choose a better date... Like Valentine's day or Christmas?' - Thought the boy unhappily. He was sure that as a Chuunin he wouldn't have to do more D-class missions.

He never noticed the masked man that suddenly appeared on his kitchen. He was never given the time to react, as he was roughly grabbed by the collar of his froggy pajamas and hauled out of his apartment.

He could only watch as the distance between him and his apartment grew. His eyes widening at the implication. - "NO! MY RAMEN!"

_The Bridge:_

He was already waiting in their usual meeting place. The dobe was already running late and Sakura never arrived before eight o' clock. If they continued this way he'll never grow strong enough to beat and kill Itachi. He blamed Kakashi and the new Godaime. One couldn't arrive on time for his own funeral and the other… She was a medic-nin and she was afraid of blood. Enough said.

'She's more of a loser than the dobe.' He thought. He quickly let his head fall and hit the railing of the bridge… hard. That thought could pass as a compliment towards his teammate. What next? Complimenting Sakura's forehead? Asking Kakashi for a new book to read?

He groaned. All he needed was a full-night sleep and his thoughts would go back to be their normal brother-killing ones with a side of fangirl-killing thoughts. But it had been months since the last time he slept the whole night and that only happened 'cause the hospital had resorted to drug him in order to keep him from escaping out the window.

He could not wait for the day he could kill his brother. He was hoping that with his big brother dead the nightmares would end. It would also make his life easier. Then, he would only have to stage an accident on his fan club meeting house thus killing every fan he'd ever had. Once that was done, he would march towards the Hyuuga Compound and tell Hyuuga Hiashi he wanted Hinata as his wife. He knew she was weak but so far she hasn't shown signs of idolizing him. He could live with her weaknesses as long as she didn't fawn over him.

'Maybe I should accept Orochimaru's offer… it's painfully obvious that I'm going nowhere here' - He thought while taking a small glance at the sky. He figured he had time for a small nap. Naruto should arrive at any moment and he would keep Sakura from raping him while he slept.

Just as he was about to close his eyes, an ANBU appeared in front of him. The masked man grabbed his arm and without uttering a word dragged him towards the Hokage Tower. Sasuke was relieved he stopped his startled squeak before it could come out.

_Tenten's Place:_

Tenten hummed a song while carefully undoing the braid she usually wore to sleep. Today was her first free day in months and she was going to enjoy it lazing around the village. She combed her hair slowly, a smile coming to her face as she remembered the new jutsu she'd mastered the day before. The Mikazuki no Mai had been hard, but Hayate-san had helped her a lot. Apparently, the instructor had been impressed with her performance during the preliminary fights and talked Gai into teaching her his technique. Her sensei had been so proud of her mastering it he had allowed her this day to relax.

'Someone's in the room' - Her mind screamed and she turned quickly. The man's arm grabbing thin air as she twisted her body to deliver a kick to her assailant.

'Is the Chuunin Exams incident all over again!' - She thought as she watched the supposed ANBU while her right hand moved to get one of the multiple kunai hidden under her nightgown, but he attacker was quicker and more experienced than her. He grabbed her hand, the kunai falling on the ground. Before she could counter attack, the man was carrying her over his shoulder.

The ANBU cursed mentally at the girl who tried to attack him while steadying her with his free hand. Tenten gritted her teeth as she felt the man touching her backside.

'PERVERT!' - She was so busy planning the man's murder to notice he was taking her towards the Hokage Tower.

_Team Gai's Training Grounds:_

Lee was running laps. Actually, he was on his four hundred and ninety-six lap and if he didn't finish five hundred he would have to do one thousand push ups. He was taking it easy today since he accidentally sprained his ankle yesterday. Gai had wanted him to take a few days off, but Lee believed he could continue his training if he did half of his usual exercises.

'One more lap and I am done.' - The boy smiled proudly. If he finished this lap he would go home and eat something. Then, his bad luck made an appearance in the form of an ANBU. Said ANBU appeared before him, waited until he passed him by and grabbed his arm.

'One thousand push ups once this is over. If I can not finish those I will punch the logs one thousand five hundred times.'

_Team 8's Meeting Place:_

Kurenai was waiting patiently for her team to arrive. It had been two weeks since she last saw them and she had to admit she had missed them terribly. They were her first Genin team and she had gotten attached to them. She was also expecting to see some sort of improvement. She hoped they had remembered to follow her instructions. She also wanted to talk with Hinata. She had noticed the poor girl had been acting strange, but she had to leave on her mission before she could talk to her. She really hoped it wasn't more problems with her family.

She watched the ANBU walking and she raised an eyebrow when she noticed he was going towards her.

"The Hokage requests your presence in the Tower" - The masked man sounded angry. Kurenai sighed and closed her eyes.

"I'm supposed to have some days off in between missions." She muttered and turned to the ANBU. - "Could you wait until any one of my team arrives. I don't want them to believe that I'm turning into a Kakashi."

The ANBU rolled his eyes, but the action went unnoticed since he was wearing a mask. - "Sure. I'll wait here and inform your team. What else can an ANBU be doing?"

Kurenai didn't notice the sarcasm coming from his voice. Well, she did notice, but chose to ignore it and left towards the Hokage Tower.

'The only thing I need now is an FGI and my day will be complete' - The ANBU thought while sitting to wait until the Genins arrived.


	3. Chapter 3: The Meeting Part I

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto

**AN: **English is not my first language and characters will most probably be Ooc since this is an AU. This is also my first fanfic

"speaking"

'thinking'

**Chapter 3: The Meeting (Part I)**

Inside the Hokage's office, two blondes and a redhead were waiting for the others to arrive. They had finished their breakfast a while ago and were now performing a three-way stare match. Gaara had won the last two, but Tsunade was a close second. Suddenly, the door opened and Shizune entered. The woman was followed by an ANBU dragging Naruto by the collar of his clothes.

"Let me go, you asshole! Can't you see I left my ramen on the stove! I should kill you for this! When I become Hokage I'm going to make you pay for this!" - Yelled the boy while trying to break free from the ninja's grasp.

"You can let go of him now." - Tsunade told the man, who quickly obeyed her orders and marched out of the room with Shizune close on his heels.

"YOU!" - Naruto said while pointing an accusing finger at the Hokage. - "If my apartment burns down to the ground I'm killing you!."

"Next time you threaten me, brat, don't do it while wearing pajamas." - The woman told him and burst out laughing at Naruto's reaction.

The boy in question had paled at her words. He slowly scanned the room and finally noticed he was not exactly alone with the old woman. There was Gaara and Temari from Suna. He recognized them from the Chuunin Exams. His eyes widened in surprise while his face suddenly turned red. He moved to a chair in the corner and looked down at his froggy pajamas. He better stay quiet and not bring attention to himself while he was here. He closed his eyes and forced himself to contain the frustrated whine that he felt coming… This was going to be harder than he thought.

They were recuperating from the shock of watching a quiet Naruto, when Shizune entered again. This time she was followed by a calm and collected Uchiha. The woman left him and went back outside without a word.

"Sit boy, there's still people missing for this." - Tsunade said to the newcomer and gestured towards a chair.

"Hn." - Was all he said while moving to the corner and leaning on the wall. From this position he could watch everyone.

The first thing he noticed was the two Sand-nins. The blonde girl with the fans and Gaara. The boy he had to fight during the Chuunin Exams and later when he lost control of… whatever that creature was… when they tried to confront Orochimaru. If the redhead hadn't lost control, the sannin might've been killed during his escape… And he wouldn't be worrying about the seal.

Sasuke willed himself to look away from Gaara, who was staring at him intently. Only now the Uchiha had to fight back his laughter at the sight of Naruto in all his froggy clad glory. Sasuke congratulated himself on his control when he blinked and took a better look at the pajamas.

'Are those frogs eating ramen?'- He wondered and inner Sasuke began rolling on the floor laughing, only to loose consciousness from lack of mental oxygen.

While Sasuke gave mental CPR to his inner being, the door opened again. They were expecting Shizune to enter first, but were surprised when an ANBU ran inside followed by an angry Tenten. The girl had gotten hold of some brass knuckles and had freed herself from the ANBU.

"Come here, you pervert! Why don't you try to touch me now?" - Cried the girl while the man tried to cower behind the Hokage. Tried being the operative word, 'cause Tenten was now using her kunais and he couldn't endanger his Hokage's life.

"Please! I didn't knew." - Begged the man while ducking a kunai aimed at his neck.

"You touched me." - Hissed the girl while getting another kunai out. - "Now you die."

The ANBU was sure he saw his life flash before his eyes. He saw the girl moving to release her kunai and then…

"You can go now." - Shizune, his salvation, said from the doorway. The ANBU didn't waste a second to disappear using a teleportation jutsu. Shizune sighed and went out to wait again. Leaving Tenten, kunai in hand, standing in her pink nightgown with her hair down and glaring at the spot the man had been occupying just minutes before.

"Would you like to explain that little display of violence towards one of our own?" - Tsunade asked, amusement in her tone of voice.

"Hokage-sama, that ANBU just molested me" - Replied Tenten while trying to relax and hiding the kunai somewhere on her body.

Temari couldn't help it. She tried to control it, but this had been too much. She laughed and it was then that Tenten realized she wasn't alone and she was only wearing her night clothes.

She recognized, with a blush, the two Genins from Suna. It was glancing at the Uchiha and Naruto that made her turn beet red in embarrassment. At least Naruto was suffering the same as her. Maybe that was the reason Naruto was so quiet… or was he sick? She moved behind the blond boy and tried to disappear in the shadows but the pink made it a little difficult to blend.

Meanwhile, both Sasuke and Naruto were wondering how did she kept so many weapons hidden when her clothes were almost see through. Tsunade was satisfied that the boys hadn't suffered a nosebleed. After this was over she was going to have a strong conversation with her ANBU.

The door opened again and Shizune entered with Rock Lee following close behind her. This time the black haired girl stayed beside Tsunade. The boy bowed and stood straight waiting his Hokage's orders.

"I see you've been exercising." - Commented Tsunade while looking at the boy's slightly sweaty face.

"I prefer to use all my youthful years productively, Hokage-sama. I was running laps around the training grounds." - Said the boy.

"Didn't Gai-sensei said that you shouldn't exercise for a couple of days, Lee? - Asked Tenten from her corner while using Naruto as a cover. - "I thought you were injured."

"A sprained ankle will not stop me from hard work, Tenten." - The green clad boy turned to her while flashing her a smile and giving her a thumbs up. - "Besides, if I take it easy now, there should not be a problem."

"How much is taking it easy, Rock Lee?" - Asked the Hokage with narrowed eyes and standing up to see the injury.

"Five hundred laps around the training grounds, Hokage-sama; but since I could not finish that I must now do one thousand push-ups." - Replied the boy proudly. - "If I cannot finish those, I will punch the logs one thousand and five hundred times." He finished with a pose.

Tenten was waiting for the sun to shine on his bowl-cut hair and his smile to blind her, but Tsunade stopped that from happening. The medic-nin had seen his now very swollen foot and had proceeded to hit the boy on the head; thus ending his pose prematurely.

"You and that sensei of yours are going to be the death of me! It hasn't been a week since I patched you up last and you're injured again! Once this meeting is over I want you to stay on your bed and not move unless you want me to tie you down and shave those eyebrows and head of yours." - Tsunade screamed at him. Lee's eyes widened in panic at her threat and Tsunade smiled before saying. - "And then I'll tell Gai how you, his beloved and youthful pupil, disobeyed him."

"NO!" - Rock Lee's eyes watered as the idea that he'd actually gone against Gai-sensei's words struck him. All he wanted was to get stronger and make him proud, but… - "Gai-sensei! I failed you!"

And Kurenai entered the room to this display of manly tears. She hesitated slowly at the sight of mini-Gai, as she called him, crying while yelling that he failed Gai on something. But she was a Jounin and she had learned to deal with strange things. Such as a bored Uchiha, two Suna Genins, Naruto and Tenten in pajamas and a crying mini-Gai. Her red eyes surveyed the scene again and stopped. Her eyes widened a fraction, panic and fear in them. Tsunade was looking at her with the most beatific smile Kurenai had ever seen and Naruto was completely silent. She was doomed.


	4. Chapter 4: The Meeting Part II

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**AN: **English is not my first language and characters will most probably be Ooc since this is an AU. This is also my first fanfic.

"speaking"

_'thinking'_

**Chapter 4: The Meeting (Part II)**

It took Kurenai a couple of minutes to regain her composure. By then, Lee had calmed and she found herself standing besides the green-clad ninja.

"Now that we are all present, I would like to start this meeting by explaining a few things." - Started Tsunade, making the assembled shinobi in front of her almost stand at attention. - "I'm sure you already know Gaara and Temari from Sunagakure."

She gestured lazily towards the two Genins and continued. - "They are now to be considered shinobi of Konoha and I expect you all to treat them as such. Since they are still Genin and all of our teams already have three members, they will perform conjoined missions with the other teams."

"Hokage-sama, I know why you are telling me this, but why are the other Genin present and not their teachers?" - asked a confused Kurenai.

She had never heard of any village giving away their own men for free. Specially one as powerful as Gaara or as skilled as Temari. It was then that a spark of understanding came to her. The Kazekage had given away the kids as payment for a mission. She glanced at the children around her and suppressed a sigh. It was going to be a really difficult mission, but she was confident she could work with such a large group of kids.

"My ramen is burned and I'm probably homeless just because you wanted us to welcome them!" - Cried an indignant Naruto, who was silenced by a brass-knuckled punch courtesy of Tenten.

"Shut up, brat! I'm only starting!" - Exclaimed Tsunade, her eyes narrowing while glaring at him. Naruto smiled sheepishly at the angry woman and sank on the chair.

"Kurenai, how important do you believe a family is to a growing child?"- Asked the Hokage sweetly making all, save Shizune and Gaara, scoot away from the legendary medic-nin.

"Very important. Why exactly is this relevant to our situation, Hokage-sama?" - The Jounin asked wearily.

"Very relevant, Kurenai" - Purred the Hokage. - "As you already know, the life of our shinobi is hard and more often than not one parent is left alone to raise their children. The Third worked hard to make the life of these families easier and I have strived to follow his ideas on this subject."

"There's a difference between families with one parent and two parents?" - Interrupted Naruto. Again. Tsunade sighed in frustration. At this rate, she was never going to finish this.

"The difference is on the income they receive, Naruto. Most of our shinobi marry civilians. Our jobs are better paid than theirs and most stop working and live on the shinobi's paycheck. Unfortunately, our job may pay well but the risk of dying is very high. The Third helped those families that had lost their only source of money or were struggling to make ends meet." - Shizune answered in a monotone

"Thank you, Shizune." - Continued Tsunade. - "Well, the Third also tried to help our orphan population. He was the one that founded the orphanage, the orphan's fund and arranged for them to get a free education, be it at the Ninja Academy or at the civilian's school system. Although all these things have helped our children greatly, the general results are barely satisfactory for me. I strongly believe he could've done more."

"Is there a point to all this?" - The low monotone of Gaara filled the room. After the shock of hearing him talk wore off, Tsunade realized he and Kurenai were the only ones listening to her words.

"Lee, stop doing push ups! Naruto, Sasuke, Temari, wake up! Tenten, where the hell did you get that… never mind, just stop sharpening it!" - Roared the blonde woman and her audience once again gave her their full attention.

Shizune handed the mission scroll to Tsunade, who took it from her hands and placed it on her desk. - "All of you, except Kurenai, are orphans of Konoha. Even when our best programs have helped to ease your life by covering all your expenses, housing and education. We have done poorly in creating an adequate upbringing for you."

Tsunade stopped talking when she felt a huge amount of killing intent coming from the kids in front of her. She raised an eyebrow at them, challenging them to act on their thoughts, but none stepped forward.

_'At least they have enough manners to not jump at me with their kunai in hand.' _- She noticed Sasuke and Naruto giving strange looks at Lee and Tenten. - _'I guess they never noticed they weren't the only ones running around alone in this village. Although who would ever think that anyone's parents would allow their children to follow Gai?'_

The Fifth looked at Kurenai seriously. - "This will be a long term mission, Kurenai and you won't be able to decline or abandon it, unless you are planning on retiring early.

Kurenai's eyes widen. She knew it was going to be a hard mission, but this? In addition, the woman hasn't even talked about the mission. She just talked about the importance of family and how disappointed she was with the care of all the children around her…

_'Oh God, no…' _- The red-eyed woman thought as the words of the Hokage came back to her. - _'How important do you believe a family is to a growing child?… Very important… All of you are orphans of Konoha… We have done poorly in creating an adequate upbringing for you… important… a family is… a growing child… This will be a long term mission… long term mission… long term mission… long term mission'_

Suddenly, her eyes focused again on the face of her Hokage. She appeared to be saying something, but Kurenai wasn't hearing anything. She was going to stop drinking. This was the worst alcohol induced hallucination she'd ever had. Even worse than the one where she was married to Kakashi and was cheating on him with Gai… Okay… This was her second worst alcohol induced hallucination.

"… urenai… okay… renai… you… Kurenai, are you okay?" - Tsunade's voice finally entered her mind. Kurenai noticed that the medic-nin actually looked concerned.

"Yes. I'm fine. Could you repeat what you said last, Hokage-sama?" The Jounin asked nervously. She watched as the blonde woman smiled at her condescendingly.

"I said you are now the proud mother of four boys and two girls."

This was a genjutsu. She was still in the Land of Waves hunting down the missing-nin. She was trapped in a genjutsu. There was no other explanation. It wasn't real. There was no Naruto wearing only ramen-eating frog pajamas and yelling at the top of his lungs that he didn't need parents now. There was no pink-wearing Tenten waving a kunai around and saying she was fine living alone. There was no mini-Gai looking at her as if she was some sort of goddess to be worshiped. There was no sand-turned-konoha girl exclaiming that she could take care of her very quiet and psychotic brother. There was no psychotic brother staring at her and creeping her out by said staring. This was all an illusion and everything will be all right once she canceled it. Kurenai took a deep breath. She was a genjutsu specialist. All she needed to do was the Genjutsu kai…

_'Why is it still happening?' _- Kurenai gave up and accepted that this was really happening. She watched as the Uchiha stalked down to the door.

"Where do you think you are going?" - Said the Hokage before he could leave.

"To train. I've wasted enough time here." - He answered without even looking at her.

"Step out of that door and loose your headband, Uchiha." - Hissed the blonde woman, gaining one of his famous glares. She merely blinked amused at his reaction.

"I already had a family. I don't need another one." - Was all he said, but he returned to his previous position on the corner.

Kurenai looked at the Hokage. - "Why me?"

"You are our only Jounin with the privilege to be raised by both parents, Kurenai. That alone makes you more qualified than say, Kakashi, Asuma or Anko. Besides, would you really leave children in the care of a porn addict, a human chimney and a nymphomaniac?" - Tsunade replied happily, quite proud of her reasoning.

"But… I've never taken care of…" - Kurenai began to protest, but the sound of someone getting up and walking towards her interrupted her words.

She turned to see Gaara standing behind her. He just looked into her eyes for a few seconds and said. - "I like your eyes, mother."

Kurenai blinked. What was she supposed to say to him? - "Uh… Thanks, I…" - A sudden presion on her ribcage stopped her. Mini-Gai was glomping her!

"How glorious of you to accept the challenge of motherhood! I accept the challenge of becoming your son and I promise I will not disappoint you. If I do, I will walk with my hands around Konoha two thousands times… backwards!" - Declared Lee while Kurenai tried to pry him off before he broke her ribs. Tenten watched the whole thing, grateful that with Lee glomping her he could not do his good guy pose at the moment.

"Look, Lee, could you let me go?" - Kurenai pleaded and the boy only loosened his grip but didn't let go.

"See, you're family already!" - Exclaimed the Hokage, earning a death glare from Sasuke and Kurenai. She ignored it and handed the sealed mission scroll to Kurenai. - "The scroll has the direction of your brand new house. You will still receive your monthly allowance from the fund. That should cover all of your expenses and more. This is classified as a S-rank mission."

The Hokage paused and narrowed her eyes at them. - "Failure to comply with this mission in any way, shape or form will result in a permanent expulsion from the shinobi ranks." - She smiled at their shocked faces. - "Please use the doors to get out and have a nice day."

The group followed Kurenai out of the Tower silently. Once outside, she opened the scroll and read the directions to their new house. She looked at the kids and sighed while performing a teleportation jutsu to get them all there faster.


	5. Chapter 5: Waking Up

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**AN #1: **I haven't abandoned my fics. I've just been busy doing my practice teaching, but I plan on finishing them. Updates will be slow, but they are coming. As always, English is not my first language and characters will most probably be Ooc since this is an AU. This is also my first fanfic.

**AN #2: **I am dedicating this chapter to all the people that have reviewed. Specially, Shikabane-Mai. Thank you all!

"talking"

'_thoughts'_

**Chapter 5: Waking Up   
**

It was the sun that took Kurenai away from one of the best dreams she'd had in her life. As soon as she opened her eyes, she was startled by the figure of the Sand boy standing beside her bed.

'_What the…?' _- She thought, while wondering what the hell was the boy doing in her room. Of course, just then she noticed she wasn't exactly in her room. She turned towards the boy, waiting for some sort of explanation.

"We require breakfast." - Said the redhead and Kurenai blinked.

"We? Who is we?" - She asked while sitting on her bed. The pounding on her head reminding her that she had drank a little bit too much the day before. At least that explained why it was taking her longer to get her bearings.

"Me, my sisters and my brothers." - Gaara replied slowly. His new mother appeared to be slow, but maybe all mothers were like that. He watched as she frowned, as if she was close to figuring out something.

Just then, Naruto ran into the room and placed himself between Kurenai and Gaara. -"YOU CAN'T KILL HER!"

Kurenai's memories made a forceful come back as soon as she watched the orange clad ninja enter the room. The Hokage's speech. The special mission. The kids that were now her sons… and daughters. How she had passed from being a single young woman to a single young parent of six.

"BUT SASUKE SAID YOU CAME HERE TO KILL HER!"

Unfortunately, the meeting with Tsunade had been one of the highlights of the day. After that, everything went downhill. They had gazed at their new two-story house and even though Kurenai thought it was beautiful, she was quite sure the Fourth will find a way to haunt both her and Tsunade for the destruction of his house.

"I already told you, I do not want to kill her."

"LIAR!"

After that, they had separated to get their things. She was busy packing her belongings when her team was called on an emergency mission. Naruto and his ramen had burned down the entire apartment building. She and her team had been assigned the task of cleaning it up and since it was an emergency, they couldn't refuse.

"Maybe I should kill you."

"SEE! YOU'RE CRAZY!"

After her team finished, she had gone to her apartment only to find it empty and with a note from Naruto. Apparently, he had taken the liberty of moving her things to the house. Later, she found out he also took the liberty of throwing away her wine.

"You are quite annoying."

"ANNOYING! ME? YOU'RE NOT MISTER CONGENIALITY EITHER!

After her bath, she found Sasuke, Naruto and Lee in a match in the middle of the kitchen. Winner got to make dinner. They ended up eating ramen. It was all there was to eat in the house.

"Why do you insist on provoking me?"

"PROVOKING? WHO'S PROVOKING? YOU WERE THE ONE THAT CAME HERE TO KILL OUR NEW MOTHER"

"I did not."

Bath time didn't went as bad. Gaara threw Lee out of the bathtub so he could take a sand bath. Kurenai had insisted that he needed a bath, despite him telling her he was clean. Due to the bathroom incident, Lee refused to share the room with him and is now sleeping on the guest room. Sasuke only glared at her when he was told to share the room with Naruto. Temari and Tenten were busy decorating their rooms with weapons to complain.

"Have you considered that your friend lied?"

"SASUKE WOULDN'T LIE ABOUT THIS? … would he?"

Sasuke refused to talk to anybody, but he appeared to be the most relaxed of the six. Maybe it was because his fan girls didn't knew he had moved.

"SASUKE! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

The reason of her hangover? She had found an old vodka bottle lying around and couldn't resist. Alcohol always relaxed her and the day had been too stressful. She watched as Naruto made his way out of her room. The obscenities coming from his mouth unknown even to her. Gaara just looked at her.

"So… breakfast?" - She asked while the sounds of Naruto and Sasuke fighting came to her ears.

"Temari likes eggs." - He told her and walked out of her room. Kurenai closed her eyes and counted to ten. The fighting was still going.

"GAARA!" - She called after the boy, who turned back and returned to her room. - "Don't kill them."

The boy frowned. - "I wasn't going to kill them."

"You don't understand me." - Kurenai said while looking at him with a small smile on her face. - "You are allowed to stop whatever madness is going on in the kitchen. Just don't kill them."

Gaara stood in the doorway for a couple of minutes before nodding. - "As you wish, mother." - He said and went down.

Kurenai was changing clothes when a loud scream from the kids was followed by an eerie silence and she smiled. - _'Maybe having a son isn't as bad as I thought.'_


End file.
